Watch Over Me
by NinjaQueen33
Summary: Luffy remembers a small memory of Ace while he finally musters the courage to visit his gravesite for the first time. (In memoriam of Portgas D. Ace) Motivated by the 10-year anniversary of Ace's death in the manga (February 15th).


Hello, I know that today is the ten year anniversary of Ace's death in the manga. (February 15th) So since Ace's is my favorite character in all of One Piece, I decided to write this piece as a tribute to him.

I can honestly say that Ace was the character whose death made me feel the most pain out of any fictional character I ever dealt with and seen. I wasn't around or into One Piece on the day Oda released chapter 574 (On Feb. 15, 2010, I was ten years old doing god knows what lol), but when I did, it made me feel so many heightened emotions and emotional pain, even knowing about his death as a spoiler.

His significance in the One Piece story felt so real and genuine to me as a person who took a long time to fully accept myself as a person. I will never forget about Ace for as long as I live. I will love him forever and never downplay the impact he left on my mind and heart. Rest easy, Portgas D. Ace.

Enjoy!

:)

* * *

Freckled cheeks were stained with dried-up tears. The ten-year-old had his legs tucked in, his knees touching his chin. His moist eyes scanned over to his little brother, watching him wince in pain as he was lying down.

Ace mouth quivered as the built-up water hanging on his bottom eyelid fell down on his face. He told Luffy that he was sorry so many times that he lost count. But that's all he could say at the moment.

His heart felt tight every time Luffy pained whines made itself known throughout the house. He saw his fingers curled towards his palms, both of his arms hanging outward. Removing his wrapped arms from his legs, he reached over and grabbed on to some of his fingers. The older brother gave them a gentle squeeze as he looked upon him.

Luffy managed to open one eye and shot his brother a weak side look. "Ace..."

"I'm so sorry Luffy. I know I keep saying it but I truly am sorry. I should have helped you with that bear."

The seven-year-old used all of his strength to produce a struggling smile.

"Don't...worry Ace. It wasn't your fault. I should have been..." Luffy winced again. "...stronger."

Ace brought himself closer to Luffy and grab a hold of his entire hand now. "No, no. Don't blame yourself. It was my job to make sure you didn't get hurt and I failed. I'm sorry I'm such a worthless brother."

Luffy was in too much pain from his deep wounds to respond. All he did was squeeze Ace's hand to alleviate some of the overbearing pain.

The pouring rain rung loud throughout Dadan's house. Ace sniffles and Luffy loud winces were the only other sounds made known around the large room.

**ooo**

The next morning, Luffy woke up with beams of sunlight shining down on his face. His body felt lighter than before, so much that he was able to sit up without there being too much pain to deal with. Luffy felt a slight headache coming on so he rubbed his head as he took a good look at his surroundings.

Ace was asleep right next to him, softly holding on to a few of his fingers. Soon after, a bandit entered the room with a spoon and a bottle of medicine. "Ah, Luffy you're awake!"

Luffy turned to him with a confused expression. "What happened? All I remember is my body hurting a lot then I blacked out. I don't really remember what all happened."

"Basically, from what Ace said, you and he were out but you got attacked by a bear. Ace rushed you over here and Magra quickly treated your wounds. It was a close call because your cuts were so deep and you lossed a lot of blood. You could have died, Luffy."

"Really, it was that bad? I mean, it did hurt a lot but I didn't think I was gonna die."

"Yeah, everyone has been taking turns to make sure that you are healing up. But by the looks of it, you seem to be healing at a fast pace."

Luffy smiled as he moved his arms around. He tried to stretch his arms out but he instantly retracted them when pain shot throughout his arms.

"Don't push yourself too much. I know it'll be hard but you need to rest so you can heal faster. I brought some medicine for you to take so you can feel better."

Luffy nodded and turned to his right. He saw Ace still sleeping on the hardwood floor, his body slowly moving up and down.

"He was crying over you all day yesterday. Eventually, he fell asleep around the middle of the night. He honestly feels really bad that you got attacked."

The seven-year old's brows perked up. "Ace was crying...and over me!? I never thought someone as strong as Ace cried at all."

The bandit nodded with a small smile. "Yeah, it was a shocking sight to see. It seems like even the strongest people break down sometimes."

Luffy eyes focused on Ace until he saw his face twitch a little. A few moments later, Ace opened his eyes and lift himself from the floor. He looked around the room as he rubbed his eyes, groaning from waking fatigue.

"You're awake!" Luffy greeted with an excited tone.

Ace stared at Luffy for a few seconds before he remembered what happened yesterday. Seeing Luffy's usual cheerful expression lifted a heavyweight from his chest. The same expression he used to get annoyed at was now his sign of relief. To Luffy's surprise, he saw Ace's eyes soften and his lips quiver a little.

"You okay, Ace-" Luffy was cut off by feeling a good amount of weight upon his body. Ace hugged him tightly, wrapping his arms around his entire body.

"I thought I would have lost you yesterday..." Ace spoke softly.

Luffy didn't know how to respond since he never saw this side of Ace before. He's so used to Ace being mean to him and always hitting him. So something like this put him in a shocking daze.

He quickly snapped himself out of it and hugged him back. Luffy chuckled as he patted him on the back. "Me? Die? C'mon Ace, I gotta become the Pirate King first. No way am I going to die over some dumb bear."

"I'm sorry for being such a worthless big brother. I will never let you go through that ever again. I swear on my life on it." Ace said as he hid his face on his shoulder.

"You're not worthless Ace. You're the coolest brother anyone can ask for. It's not your fault, I should have been stronger-"

"That's not the point. I'm your big brother so it's my responsibility to make sure that you don't get hurt. You kept asking for my help to defeat the bear and I was too careless to listen. It's not a matter of you being strong or not. It's my fault so don't you dare blame yourself."

Luffy blinked a couple times before shifting his eyes to his brother. "Ace..."

Ace pulled back and saw Luffy produce an optimistic smile. His smile was so contiguous that he couldn't help but smile right back. They ended up chuckling at each other to shake off the heavy emotions they were feeling before.

"So are you going to help me out if the bear comes back to challenge me again?"

Ace ruffled Luffy's wild locks and nodded. "You bet."

**ooo**

The fading memory echoed throughout Luffy's mind as he stared at the grave. The pink flower petals danced around him as he breathed in the windy air. He shook his head, "You weren't a worthless brother. You were the exact opposite."

Ace's cowboy hat moved with the wind, along with his signature red bead necklace.

"I idolized you. Ever since I was a kid, it was always my goal to be like you and watch what you would do. Even back when we first met, I felt a pull towards you, like I couldn't just stay away from you. Even when you pushed me away and tried to kill me, I always wanted to be near you." Luffy chuckled. "It took a long time for us to get a get along."

**...**

"Every time you talked bad about yourself, it brought pain to my heart. I hated how you called yourself "worthless" or "good-for-nothing" because you were far from those things."

**...**

"You were strong, caring, kind, and courageous. You were everything a brother can ask for. I looked up to you for so long. You were my hero."

**...**

"I miss you, Ace. I thought that one day I can overcome you being gone, but..." Luffy paused as he felt some form of a lump in his throat. "It's...so hard. Whenever I think about what happened that day, I feel nothing but pain in my chest." Luffy felt out his huge burnt scar on his torso. "But it's come to a point where I just deal with it instead of trying to erase it from my mind anymore."

**...**

Luffy smiled softly, "Even though it's hard, I managed to gather the strength to finally come here. I guess the reason why I haven't visited your grave is that I didn't want to deal with the fact that you're not here anymore. But after what I've been through since that horrible day, I can now say that I accept your passing over these past five years."

**...**

"I love you, Ace. I'll visit you again soon. Rest well."

Luffy placed the bouquet of flowers in front of the grave and placed his hands together. He closed his eyes for a couple minutes before opening them again to see the carved writing.

Ace, may your soul be eternal

Your brave soul will always be with us

The newly made pirate king stood up and took one last look to imprint his brother's grave in his memory. Turning around, he began to walk away from the peaceful gravesite. The gentle wind blew his cape backward as a small smile graced his face.

The crew was chilling on the Sunny, patiently waiting for his arrival. Nami was the first to see him the second she looked up from her map. Luffy slowly walked up with, to Nami's surprise, a hopeful looking smile on his face.

When Nami saw Luffy left earlier, she noticed that he looked nervous and a bit dreadful. For the past hour and a half, she was worried about his mental wellbeing and how he would handle finally visiting his brother's grave. She knows how painful it is to the heart when you visit your loved one's grave for the first time.

Seeing Luffy in better spirits brought an expression of relief on her face. Not just hers but all other eight straw hats who watched him approach the ship.

"Luffy, are you alright?" Nami asked.

The captain looked up, his body vibrating due to his affectionate chuckles. "Yep! Better than ever. I really needed that visit." He looked at all of his crew. "Everyone, thank you for waiting for me. I know I took a little longer than I said I would."

"It's okay Luffy, we're not going anywhere without you." Usopp reassured.

"Yeah, we're in no rush." Sanji added after blowing out a cloud of smoke.

Zoro nodded with a small grin.

"Thanks, you all are the best crew a captain can ask for. Now, let's set sail for our next adventure!"

The staw hat crew cheerfully agreed, blessed to have a captain such as Luffy. Each of them was happy for him to finally conquer over the pain he's been dealing with for years. Even though Luffy rarely spoke about it, deep down, they knew he was suffering from his brother's death.

The Thousand Sunny sailed on the fresh, wild sea. The sun beamed its warm rays upon the young, infamous pirates. Luffy sat on the lion's head, looking up at the fluffy white and the limitless blue. Raising his left arm, he closed his fist over his perception of the white summer sun.

"Watch over me, Ace."

* * *

I hope you enjoyed. Don't feel shy to show some love if you really liked it.

Thank you for reading and have a great day!

**"It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit." - Antoine Rivarol**

-NinjaQueen33


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